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Class Action
November 2007 E-news:
Class and Native Americans
In this Issue
1. Class and Native Americans
2. Book Review: All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
3. Articles
4. Take our Survey
5. Links
6. Action of the Month
7. National Philanthropy Day
8. Zine - Call for Submissions
9. Get Active with Class Action: Internships and Volunteer
Opportunities
10. Benefit Concert- Advertisers and Sponsors Sought!
1. Class and Native Americans
Thanksgiving, like most American holidays, is based in a little bit of truth and a whole lot of myth. The same could be said of most people’s ideas of Native Americans in general.
From the first encounter to present day, Native American history and representation in American culture has been distorted, convoluted, misunderstood or just plain lost. While Native American tribes are the largest private landholders in the United States, they have the highest rates of poverty and unemployment out of any other group in the U.S. This month we are looking at some, but not nearly all, class issues that Indians face as sovereign wards of the Federal Government (an oxymoron if ever there was one).
2. Book Review
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by Winona LaDuke Review by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Where does the vast wealth of the United States come from? It is hard to read the financial and popular press today without encountering stories that suggest the answer is the creativity of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
To this prevailing, romanticized perspective, Winona LaDuke
offers a jolt of reality: Many of the great U.S. fortunes are based on
somebody else's wealth -- the natural resources of Native Americans. Read More....
3. Related Articles
Wheel of Misfortune by Donald Barlett and James Steele
Imagine, if you will, Congress passing a bill to make Indian tribes more self-sufficient that gives billions of dollars to the white backers of Indian businesses — and nothing to hundreds of thousands of Native Americans living in poverty. Read More...
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Poverty in Indian Country still higher than average by indianz.com
The number of Native Americans living in poverty and without health insurance remains sky-high, according to figures recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Read More...
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The Plymouth Thanksgiving Story by Chuck Larsen
The dominant myth of Thanksgiving is widespread and well known but there are many retellings and reclaimings. Here is one. Read More...
4. Links
Indigenous Women's Network
National Coalition on racism in the sports and media
Indigenous Environmental Network
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
Oil Drilling in Alaska - Gwich'in Steering Committee
American Indian Heritage Foundation
Native American Public Health
Black Mesa Resistance
5. Take our Survey
What did you learn in school about the Native American experience?
Submit a response here. Read other survey responses here.
6. Action of the Month
Here are just two of many worthy Native American causes to support.
Tribal colleges are beacons of hope for social and economic change in the communities they serve. These institutions are vital to Native America and beneficial to the country as a whole because they help Native communities in the fight against poverty. At the same time, tribal colleges preserve language and culture by integrating these important elements into their curriculum. To learn more about how you can support them, click here....
The Gwich'in Steering Committee was formed in 1988 in response to increasing threats to open the coastal plain (also known as 1002 area) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to leasing for oil. To learn more about their struggle and to write letters of support for their movement, click here...
7. November 15th is National Philanthropy Day
In this month that includes Thanksgiving, we are often asked to give thanks, remember our blessings, and help the "less fortunate." While being thankful is an important practice, in terms of helping, we encourage folks to think about how to shift from charity to change in their giving. We encourage you to support the many organizations helping to build a movement to make charity obsolete. David Wagner in, What’s Love Got to Do with It? A Critical Look at American Charity (The New Press, 2000), asks: "What if [Cesar] Chavez, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Paine, Eugene V. Debs, Margaret Sanger or Mother Jones had been content to serve at soup kitchens or join a religious mission somewhere? What if they had become therapists or professional administrators?" He goes on to say, "[T]he fight for pensions, unemployment benefits, or the minimum wage, has often united working-class, poor and even middle-income groups, but social-service approaches often individualize problems or divide classes and communities, removing collective struggle from the table."
How we do philanthropy is important. For the last few decades a social-change funding movement has been growing in the U.S., transforming how many of us give and think about giving. Though this movement still only accounts for a small part of American generosity – less than 3 percent of all private giving to nonprofits, according to the National Network of Grantmakers.
Class Action works to inspire action to end classism. Part of this is to raise awareness about the structural factors that impact us and to reduce the practice of blaming the victim. We are working to build a cross-class movement for change. We think about how to fund our work in a way that doesn't reinforce classism. We recognize that one person's $5 gift is as much of a meaningful stretch as is someone else's $5,000 or someone else's $50,000. We appreciate all the support we receive in its many forms. To donate online to Class Action, click here.
8. Class Action Zine - Call for Submissions
Class Action is publishing our second Zine and we need your help! Do you have thoughts, drawings, cartoons, poetry or any other kind of creative output concerning class? Send it to us! Email us submissions or call us with questions at 413.585.9709, ext. 201
9. Opportunities to get active with Class Action: internships and volunteer activities
Fall is here. Whether or not you are heading back to school, now’s a great time to get involved with Class Action. We’re looking for interns to help with marketing, communications, administration and program work. Click here for details. If you’d like to volunteer, please fill out a volunteer form, or just come by the office and fill one out. We’d like to meet you and find ways for you to get involved!
10. Class Action Benefit Concert on January 18th
It's hard to believe that January is right around the corner! Please join us for our first Benefit Concert featuring Charlie King, Karen Brandow, Claudia Schmidt, and Sally Rogers at the All Souls UU Church in Greenfield, MA.
You can purchase tickets at our online store (or call 413.585.9709 x201).
To join our Concert Committee, email Felice.
To sponsor the concert or to advertise in our adbook, email Sarah.
We expect 300+ people at the concert and will be doing a lot of advance promotion, so get in early and we'll start mentioning you right away!
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